Columbia County school officials are expecting a lot on interested parents to show up Thursday night at Grovetown High School for the first of two presentations on a proposed rezoning plan for more than 20 schools.

Officials aren’t expecting to be greeted with cheers. So far, much of the feedback has come from those parents who are unhappy with the plan, said Superintendent Sandra Carraway.

“The majority of comments have been requesting that their area not be rezoned,” Carraway said, referring to the 121 e-mails the county has received from concerned parents.

Columbia County officials hope new stop-light technology, wider highways and an interchange design that requires traffic to briefly drive on the opposite side of the road will help its communities keep pace with increased traffic resulting from considerable job growth at Fort Gordon.

By the end of February, all of the county’s 65 stop lights are expected to be added to InSync, an adaptive traffic-control system that coordinates the timing of lights and enables them to communicate and work together to keep vehicles moving, even as road conditions change.

Reliable Equipment Rental, located in the 4000 block of Washington Road, reported to deputies that a remote trench roller was removed from its construction site between Dec. 19 and Monday, according to a Richmond County Sheriff’s Office incident report.

The Columbia County Library will host Atlanta author and editor Colleen Oakley on Jan. 11, at 3 p.m. Oakley has said that she decided to become a journalist after hearing her mother criticize television newscasters for their aggressive interview tactics.

Oakley’s debut novel, Before I Go, was named one of People Magazine’s best new books in their January, 2015 issue.

GROVETOWN — A month into his new job as Grovetown’s public safety director, Gary Jones is wasting little time putting policies and programs in place to address growing pains the Columbia County town is experiencing with the addition of thousands of cyberdefense jobs at Fort Gordon.

Jones said that he has already assigned three police officers to direct traffic during morning and afternoon rush hours at Grovetown Middle School and downtown where East Robinson Avenue meets Kath­erine Street.